Wasteland 2 - The Vision Document

June 12th, 2012, 18:47

inXile sent out a new Wasteland 2 update, including a link to the Vision Document they have created that outlines the project's direction. Here's the entire update and hit the included link to read the Vision:

The progress on Wasteland 2 continues on at a healthy rate. Not a week goes by that I am not in a conversation with my team here or with other development groups about how wonderful this experience has been and the gratitude for the opportunity to work on a game under our terms. We are so much more efficient this way, and the game's development has a more organic process to it. Nothing in the world beats out the tinkering and re-iteration process.
I can't imagine a better way for Wasteland 2 to be created. We have your trust and a symbiotic relationship that will have us learn from each other. We are not afraid of the transparency of our process and thinking and intend to share it along the way. Our detailed reasoning of our choice of the Unity engine is just one example.
Today we are publishing our vision document for Wasteland 2 which details the sensibilities of the game itself. The ideas in this document come from things that worked in Wasteland 1 and are expected, things I have communicated previously, and suggestions/opinions from the fan boards. The role of a producer is often misunderstood and sometimes done poorly, but my role is to help shape a vision for a game, hit the right touch points and then watch it become bigger than any one person could make it. No one person can take credit for games of this size and intricacy, and for me it all starts with the vision document. My role is not to hammer on spreadsheets and task oriented management but to instead create a team that is excited and understands the totality of the game. I have been using this method since the beginning and it continues to serve me well. In the past I have had to rely wholly on my instincts but this new paradigm helps me to limit the surprises.
I would not expect too many surprises in the vision document, but it does answer much of the detail for those who might not be up to speed on many aspects of the game. We will have a section set up on our forums http://wasteland.inxile-entertainmen…hp?f=22&t=2333 for comments and we'll read them all as usual.
Also you will note that Andr&eacute;e created another gorgeous piece of art for the game that will be used for the packaging. Those who fondly remember the original Wasteland 1 box will appreciate the handing of the baton off to this new look and camera. Our next update will be to move away from the conceptual and into reality with early screen shots and camera angles…stay tuned and enjoy the vision document read.
Here is the link:https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BxM…DBpZ2ZMdmNnc28
—Brian Fargo

Fargo keeps saying all the right things, but this sounds more like PR than an actual design document. Still, a lot of promising gameplay aspects if they can pull it off. Even the smaller, easy to execute things brought a smile to my face. Like writing your own biography for a character, or being able to import your own portrait.

Originally Posted by jwmeep
Fargo keeps saying all the right things, but this sounds more like PR than an actual design document. Still, a lot of promising gameplay aspects if they can pull it off. Even the smaller, easy to execute things brought a smile to my face. Like writing your own biography for a character, or being able to import your own portrait.

Well it's a vision document, not an actual design doc - pretty much a summary of the promises made during the KS campaign. And yes, it's main purpose is to keep backers happy, and do a bit of PR on the side, I would think. If they fill this vision with life, it's more than good enough for me.

I ended up buying three copies of the game in the Kickstarter campaign. I'm not sure what I will do with them, but I am sure they will make good gifts. Definitely the project I am looking forward to the most, despite there being a lot of good ones in the works right now.

Originally Posted by Paul
It is interesting how lot of people are unable to realize the difference between design doc and vision doc.

Why should they?

It's hardly basic knowledge and we all obviously always know a lot less than we claim on the web.

Anyway, I understand what the purpose of this is, I skimmed through it and there are too many words, all the right ones, but not much interesting info in it. Fair enough though, I don't mind, I'm happy enough with it anyway… I wonder if I'm missing much by not hanging around their forums all that much though (Double Fine for example is steadily offering peeks into the creative process of their game in their forums)

— "I am not interested in good; I am interested in new, even if this includes the possibility of it's being evil"
(LaMonte Young, 1962)